My PC Hangs When My Hard Disk Is out of Sleep

High RAM or CPU loads can cause delays in bringing your PC out of Sleep Mode.

The technology of personal computers runs on clockwork precision. Even a single problem can make your computer difficult or impossible to use. Whenever you do something to your computer that involves processes that it doesn’t otherwise perform, you increase the potential for malfunctions. Changing modes, such as putting the computer into Sleep Mode or awakening it afterward, requires exactly that — processes that don’t occur elsewhere — and it’s not uncommon for users to have problems bringing their computers out of Sleep Mode.

Natural Delay

When you revive your personal computer from Sleep Mode, you can expect a momentary delay as the computer reorients itself and returns to normal operation. Be patient, the delay results from the finite abilities of your computer, and is not a sign of problems.

CPU Load

You may have software running that demands a lot of processor power. If you were running a CPU-intensive application at the moment you put your computer to sleep, that load might resume upon awaking from Sleep Mode. You may also be running an application that executes a CPU-intensive process upon awaking. Check the Windows Task Manager, or the resource-monitoring utility of your choice, to look for anything using more than a quarter of the processor’s capacity.

RAM Load

Many people run multiple programs at the same time, which uses a lot of RAM. Some individual programs use a lot of RAM all on their own, especially Web browsers with many tabs open or with a bloated instance of Flash running. Check the Windows Task Manager, or another monitoring utility, to look for RAM hogs. If it shows that your browser is the source, it’s probably just one tab responsible for the trouble. Google Chrome has its own task manager; press and hold the Shift key and press the Escape key to start the task manager and inspect individual tabs. With other Web browsers, as of 2011, you will have to make an educated guess as to which tab is causing the hangup. Look for slow, unresponsive tabs.

Hardware Configuration Problems

If your computer has always frozen after awaking from Sleep Mode, you may have hardware compatibility problems. Unfortunately this is not an easy problem to diagnose, as many possible conflicts may be at fault. If you experience series hangups that aren’t the result of CPU or RAM overload, then your PC hardware is the next thing to check. Unless you are familiar working with computers, you may want to take your machine to a computer repair technician. Before resorting to that, however, check for available software updates to your system hardware and your operating system. A software update might resolve the issue, sparing you a costly repair bill.